You can’t directly download Instagram pictures to your phone or computer from the app or from the photo’s URL. This is supposedly to protect copyright on photos. However, preventing you from downloading your own photos is ridiculous: they are yours! And given that there are workarounds to download any photo on IG, disabling this inside the app just makes more work for users. But that’s the case for now.

Two ways to download Instagram photos:

Open the Instagram image in Google Chrome and click to pop it out (full view).

Right click (on Mac: CTRL+click) the image and select “Inspect.”

You’ll see the Elements view. Hit CTRL+F then enter “jpg” so you can find the jpg URLs in the code.

Click the down arrow to the right of the finder bar to see the next instance of “jpg” until your photo is highlighted (blue tinted/selected like below). It will probably be the second jpg instance (the first is your avatar).

Find the jpg URL that is your photo

Highlight the jpg URL and copy it. It’s fine if you highlight the whole paragraph which is more than just the image URL, for example:
<img class=”_2di5p” src=”https://instagram.fmkc1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/t51.2885-15/e35/21827421_172300296664014_7469834922526507008_n.jpg” style=””>

Just paste the whole thing into a new browser window and delete the extra characters. So you’ll have just the URL (beginning with https and ending in .jpg), for example:
https://instagram.fmkc1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/t51.2885-15/e35/21827421_172300296664014_7469834922526507008_n.jpg

Right click (or on Mac CTRL+click) and hit Save Image As.

2) DownloadGram.com (alright way to download to computer or phone)

This website worked on one photo for me, but on the second I got an error. Give it a whirl if you don’t like dealing with code in method #1.

Note: Alternatives InstaSave and Dinsta are garbage. You can hardly tell which parts of the site are CTAs vs. ads. They look like virus farms. Avoid.

Oh and don’t forget this fun stipulation which you’ve agreed to in Instagram’s Terms and Conditions:

Instagram (owned by Facebook) can legally save and sell your photos to an advertising agency.

I hopped on The BeanCast to discuss the fickleness of influencer programs and whether content marketing offers up truly better results. Facebook will offer mid-roll video ads– ugh. This seems like a cash grab to me, and is at the very least cart before the horse considering their tracking failures with existing pre-roll. Of course Facebook has ambitions to advertise on connected TV apps and mid-roll on the site/app may just be research, but I’m not a fan. That said, audiences will probably deal with it, as Zuck has a great batting average at predicting what users will tolerate.

A sloth is the featured image because Twitter’s $99/month premium subscription plan (in private beta now) seems like way for non-marketers and small businesses to check a box that won’t really do much for them. Tamsen zeroes in on the appeal of this budgetable expense. Then we talk about GIFs – how marketers should use them, and the fact that we’re probably devoting too much time to discussing GIFs.

Phubbing = phone snubbing. It happens when we ignore the people around us because we’re paying attention to technology. Phubbing wrecks relationships. I’ve been concerned about this for years, as you know if you’ve listened to my podcast or read my blog or ever met me. I put my phone on airplane mode every night because it’s an important boundary for me – yes, I am unreachable for a few hours of precious serenity.

“Researchers James. A. Roberts and Meredith E. David identified eight types of phone snubbing behavior that have become common in today’s world. They are:

– During a typical mealtime that my partner and I spend together, my partner pulls out and checks his/her cellphone.

– My partner places his or her cellphone where they can see it when we are together.

– My partner keeps his or her cellphone in their hand when he or she is with me….”

Sound familiar? This stuff is disturbing.

Who’s really worse: fast food companies or tech companies?

It’s somewhat in vogue to believe companies like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola and R.J. Reynolds are the problem. They make us sick, fat or dead, they pollute our planet, and they’re purely profit-driven. Yet all the while, we lionize tech companies like Google,Facebook, and Apple. But these companies are responsible for literally rewiring our brains.

We’re willing participants as users of social networks that contribute to the breakdown of real human interaction, just like people in the drive-thru know what a Big Mac does to their body.

I suppose the parallel is that we didn’t always really know how bad fast food was for us until Supersize Me etc. came to light, until we legislated publishing calories on menus. And we won’t really acknowledge the negative impact of dopamine addiction to text message chimes and Facebook Likes for years, if at all. It’s more than a negative impact, it’s the unrecognized public (mental) health crisis of modern times.

StandFor Initiative contacted me and asked if I’d like to try out their anti-phubbing shoes. I’d never seen shoes with such a neat mission. Go check out their site. Frankly, this mission is way cooler and more important than TOM’S. I don’t care if that offends anyone. The Stop Phubbing mission is something we should all embrace before we break our ankles falling into a mall fountain.

Me wearing StandFor shoes

I picked the LOVERS shoes – there are plenty of really neat designs with backstories and real life inspiration. Here’s the description from the designer for my chosen pair:

One of the members of our team said that there’s nothing like the real feel of his wife’s warm hand touching his. Everyone should probably feel like this. But when we go to restaurants, we are shocked by couples who hardly look at each other and would rather spend their meal time staring at their phones, phablets and tablets.

I’m happy to wear these #stopphubbingshoes and I hope they spark a conversation. They’re comfortable, well made, and pretty darn cool looking. If you’d like a pair, here’s a $30 off discount promo code (valid through July 30, 2017): Enter promo code RMEFt9MD at shop.standforinitiative.com and choose the shoes, ankle boots or boots you’d like.

Me wearing the LOVERS design, inspired by couples who ignore each other for their phones.

Note: Refurbished means you’ll have to wait 3 to 5 days for free shipping.

Credit card point tip: use your Chase Ink and get 2-5% cash on Apple.com through the Chase Ultimate Rewards – Shop with Chase shopping portal. Seasonal awards vary but check for the current cash back or point amount.

MacBook Size and Butterfly Keyboard

The MacBook is only a 12-inch screen, so it’s practically a large tablet. It fits perfectly in my big ‘ol saddlebag, which is ideal for moving between meetings, coffee shops, and airports.

Keyboard:

The butterfly keyboard took some getting used to. (In fact, I had buyer’s remorse for the first few days to the point where I even ordered a refurbished MacBook Air so I could compare both side by side during Apple’s 14 day no questions asked return period.)

In order to make this laptop as thin as possible, Apple reinvented the keyboard. They created a “butterfly” mechanism, which more evenly distributes the pressure on a key than the traditional “scissor” mechanism. This is supposed to provide a more precise typing experience and fewer errors. Butterfly is 40% thinner than a scissor keyboard, and four times more stable. It feels like you’re typing on a tablet.

All areas of the butterfly keys are equally sensitive

For larger man hands, this might feel too compact and on a 12-inch. For my hands, I got used to it within a few days and now I can type somewhat physically inaccurately, relying on the butterfly mechanism to “know” which key I meant, much like I fly across my iPhone screen with little accuracy and let autocorrect do the work.

MacBook vs. MacBook Air – Display

After five days on the crisp MacBook Retina Display, switching over to the Air screen felt like going to a clunky, much older and blurry low resolution screen. Retina Displays make text and images extremely crisp, so pixels are not visible to the naked eye. It rivals the sharpness of crisply printed text. I just couldn’t get over the clarity on the MacBook.

Limited Ports – USB-C Only

One MacBook drawback is the lack of ports and jacks. It has just one USB-C port and one audio jack for earbuds. No built-in USB.

Single USB-C port – you’ll need an adapter

The easy fix is to buy a connecting port. I recommend this one by Dodocool:

At just $45.99 on Amazon Prime, it’s much cheaper than Apple’s $79 version which is overpriced and has poor reviews. All my USB equipment like my wireless mouse and Sennheiser PC 8 USB Headset can connect simultaneously while the laptop also charges.

Podcasting Equipment

By the way: if you’re podcasting with Skype or Google Hangouts, I highly recommend the Sennheiser PC 8 USB – Stereo USB Headset for PC and MAC with In-line Volume and Mute Control:

Bottom Line

Overall I would recommend a MacBook if you travel and want an ultra clear display with maximum portability. MacBook is small and light, it feels fantastic in your lap, and the screen is gentle on the eyes. It just depends on what you plan to do with it. The MacBook Air has a lower resolution screen but the extra inch adds quite a bit more area, which is nice for watching a movie, however it really just looks blurry once your eyes get spoiled on the Retina display.

Verdict: buy the MacBook unless you really prefer the traditional raised keys and a larger screen is important to you. Buy refurbished because the one year warranty is the same as a new machine and I can’t tell any difference, so why pay more?

Here’s the case I bought. At $13.99 on Prime, it’s a good value for MacBook case. The graphics aren’t super crisp on the stained glass version I bought, but it is protective and the snaps and rubber feet are still intact, unlike the Dowswin case I first bought. If you get a solid color, this would look nice and get the job done.

I joined The Beancast again. This time the theme was how much bunk is out there in marketing study land.

What do YOU do on your phone during TV ads? We tackled Facebook’s assertion that TV viewers turn to Facebook during commercial breaks, the hurdles facing people-based marketing, overcoming voting blocs at Cannes, and the effectiveness of brand takeovers on Twitter (I say not effective at all). Also, why Canada at Cannes is like the 1988 Jamaican Olympic bobsled team in Cool Runnings, and Travis Kalanick is a narcissistic frat boy. (Not mentioned on the show but worth noting: Sarah Lacy at Pando has been calling out Uber‘s problematic culture with little notice since 2012).

Canadians at Cannes are like Jamaican bobsled team at the 1988 Winter Olympics